Great Outdoors America Week in Pictures

The story of Great Outdoors America Week 2013 is best told through photographs. Sierra Club Outdoors hosted 15 volunteers for a week filled with lobby visits, briefings, receptions and events. We participated in 20 meetings with elected officials where we advocated for increasing opportunities for kids and youth to get outdoors. We hosted a congressional briefing panel on the military community and the outdoors. We were joined by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell for the “Kids, Youth and the Great Outdoors Festival and Walk on the National Mall” put together by the Outdoors Alliance for Kids. We recovered from a long week with a Sierra Club Outing to Great Falls National Park. And those are just the highlights. Here’s our first round of photos from GO Week.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Edwards, Sierra Club

Sierra Club Outdoors hosted a congressional briefing panel, “Military Community and the Outdoors,” with Major General James A. Kessler, Marine Corps Installation Command; Stacy Bare, Army Veteran and Sierra Club Outdoors Director; Marine Corps Colonel Broughton; Sheri Robey-Lapan, Blue Star Families; Mike Christian, Marine Corps Veteran and Director of Outdoor Research Government Program; and Joshua Brandon, Army Veteran and Military Organizer for Sierra Club Outdoors.

Photo Credit: Kyle Ash

During GO Week, the Outdoors Alliance for Kids (of which Sierra Club is a co-founder) hosted the “Kids, Youth and the Great Outdoors Festival and Walk on the National Mall” to draw attention to the importance of increasing access and opportunities for kids and youth to get outdoors. This event would not have been possible without the ongoing commitment of 50+ members of OAK. Special thanks to Michael Carroll and Paul Sanford and of The Wilderness Society, Susan Yoder of the American Camp Association and Sarah Danno and Katie Joyce rockstar Sierra Club Outdoors summer interns for all of the hours you put in to making this event (and GO Week) a success.

Sierra Club’s Baltimore and Harrisburg Inner City Outings groups hosted a kayak demo station at the “Kids, Youth and the Great Outdoors Festival” on the National Mall. Thanks Molly Gallant, Nicole Veltre, Pat and Tony Reilly for lending your expertise (and your boats).

Secretary Jewell joins the Outdoors Alliance for Kids for a press conference on the importance of connecting kids, youth and families with the natural world. Thanks Sierra Club Angel Martinez for holding up our sign!

Photo Credit: Javier Sierra, Sierra Club

From left to right, Chair Nancy Sutley, White House Council on Environmental Quality; Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; Michael Brune, Sierra Club Executive Director; Secretary Sally Jewell, US Department of the Interior; Arturo Cervantes, Outdoor Nation Youth Ambassador; Jackie Ostfeld, Chair, Outdoors Alliance for Kids and Policy Manager, Sierra Club Outdoors; and Jamie Williams, President, The Wilderness Society. Thanks to all of our press conference speakers for their ongoing commitment to connecting kids and youth with our natural heritage.

Photo Credit: Javier Sierra, Sierra Club

We have arrived at the Capitol. Sierra Club joins Interior Secretary Jewell and the Outdoors Alliance for Kids for a walk on the National Mall following the “Kids, Youth and the Great Outdoors Festival.” Big thanks to Vanessa Garisson and Morgan Dixon of GirlTrek for leading the walk. It was a hot day and the enthusiam of our GirlTrek friends kept us going.

Photo Credit: Eugenie Bostrom, Southwest Conservation Corps

During the GO Week Congressional Awards Celebration, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida receives an award for his work to protect America’s great outdoors and to connect veterans with our public lands. Sierra Club Outdoors uber-volunteer Mark Walters (in the middle) is there to present the award.